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Nine-year-old Kalli Conner has her garden in. Now, she's waiting for the chance to harvest the home-grown vegetables.

But, her friend, 10-year-old Tiana Haun said her family didn't plant any vegetables in their garden this year. "We're going to move to Minnesota this year," she said.

The two girls are among St. Louis area kids who are learning about gardening through a special Children's Gardening Club. The St. Louis Parks Department sponsors a year-round program to help kids learn the fun of home gardening.

The club meets each month to learn different aspects of gardening. In May, the kids learned how to make miniature gardens by planting in containers. These plants can be both inside and outside the house.

In May, the kids also decorated small containers with tissue paper. Then, they planted flowers in them so they'd have a good Mother's Day gift. They also got Krispy Kreme doughnuts for a snack.

Gardening subjects for later in the summer include:

On June 2, there's Perennial Kids Day; on July 7, it's Tropical Rain Forest; on Aug. 4, it's Bug Day, and one Sept. 8, it's Fall Harvest.

The lessons continue throughout the year. Topics later include Pumpkins, Bulbs and Holiday Plants.

For information on future meetings, call horticulturist Doug Wolter at (314) 615-4783.

Kalli thinks gardening will make a good hobby for the rest of her life.

However, for now, she admitted, "My mom does most of the work. But I'm her helper."

But, she said she did a lot of the seed planting this spring. They put in radishes, carrots, squash, zucchini, beans and peas along with tomatoes.

From last year's garden, she said she liked the carrots best.

The family garden is close enough to their house that they don't have to worry about not getting enough rain. Kalli said she can sprinkle the garden with a hose if it gets too dry.

Although Tiana isn't going to have any home-grown vegetables this year, she is getting some things from her garden. The family has permanent strawberry and raspberry patches, that yield fruit every year.

"We have to put netting over the patches so the birds don't eat all the fruit before we do," she said.

Last year, she said they had vegetables from their garden. They included radishes, lettuce, spinach and squash.

She said her older sister, 11-year-old Carol, likes the vegetables and says she's going to be a vegetarian. "She eats all sorts of beans and peas," Tiana said.

Tiana said she likes digging in the dirt in the garden.

Horticulturist Doug Wolter said he's interested in finding out what gardening subjects the kids want to study. If there's enough interest, he adds the subject for the next year. For instance, this year he added a class on bugs.

"A lot of boys love bugs. We talk about positive bugs, like lady bugs. We also talk about destructive bugs. But, most of the time, we focus on the beneficial bugs," he said.

Wolter also urges the kids to keep a Garden Journal. That can include a map of your garden, to show where all the seeds are planted. Also, you keep track of when you plant, when the plants break through the ground and when you harvest.

"Anyone who gets tomatoes by July 4th is doing good," he said.

The county's Children's Garden Club program is in its second year. The club has a relationship with the National Council of Garden Clubs. That's a national group that promotes gardening in this country.

Some good gardening information for kids In May, horticulturist Doug Wolter lists a number of books that provide kids with good information about container gardening. Each month, he provides reading lists on the topic of the month. The container gardening books include: "Gardens by Design Container Gardening," by Alan Too Good. "Gardening in Containers" by Ortho Books. "Hanging Gardens" by Jack Kramer. "Hanging Gardens" by Sunset Magazines. "Hanging Baskets" Window Boxes and other Container Gardens" by David Joyce. "The Book of Container Gardening" by Malcolm Hillier. "Container Gardening" by the American Horticultural Society. In addition, you can find out information about the National Council of Garden Clubs by clicking on the groups website at: www.gardenclub.org You also can find out more about other kids' programming by the St. Louis County Parks by going to the county's website at: www.St-LouisCountyParks.com.